---
category: Psychics & Remote Viewers
summary: Philanthropist and part-owner of Church's Fried Chicken who provided initial
  funding for Hal Puthoff's psi research at SRI.
tags:
- Person
- RemoteViewer
- SRI
---

[Bill Church](/people/bill-church/) was a philanthropist and amateur scientist, known for being a part owner of [Church's Fried Chicken](/organizations/churchs-fried-chicken/). In the early 1970s, he provided [Hal Puthoff](/people/hal-puthoff/) with ten thousand dollars in initial funding to begin his [psi](/concepts/parapsychology/) experiments at [SRI](/organizations/stanford-research-institute/). This private funding was crucial in the nascent stages of the remote viewing research program, preceding the involvement of the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/).[^1]

---

[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.